


don't break your back (for me)

by my_infinite_variety



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst, Death from Old Age, Derek Hale Deserves Nice Things, Derek Hale is Bad at Feelings, Hopeful Ending, M/M, Mutual Pining, No Dialogue, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Post-Canon, Sad with a Happy Ending, San Francisco, Stiles Stilinski Leaves Beacon Hills, The Hale House, contemplation of alternate realities
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-04-13
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:26:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23621539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/my_infinite_variety/pseuds/my_infinite_variety
Summary: Derek and Stiles miss their opportunity, but maybe they had a chance somewhere else.
Relationships: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Comments: 4
Kudos: 54





	don't break your back (for me)

**Author's Note:**

> the title is from post malone's "stay"  
> also, i don't own teen wolf. like, at all.

There are a million different realities, dipping, weaving, and colliding with each other. At least, that’s what Stiles likes to think. He likes to think about worlds where his mom never died and Scott was never bitten. He thinks about how he wasn’t lucky enough to end in one of those.

Derek doesn’t let himself dream like that, doesn’t entertain the thought of his family sitting with each other at the dinner table in some other world while Derek curls himself up in the midst of tangled sheets. He doesn’t let himself think of Laura, who should have stayed with him in New York. He doesn’t quite deserve it, doesn’t think he ever will.

Stiles moves to San Francisco in the summer, just after graduating, and he never comes back. He visits for holidays, sure, but him and Derek never meet eyes again. Stiles thinks about it sometimes, when he catches a glimpse of a familiar leather jacket or dark car when he visits his dad. It’s a silly thought, being closer to Derek, but Stiles can’t help but think.

Derek knocks down his childhood home and doesn’t rebuild it. The land smells like ash and death and he can’t bear to stay. Instead he lives across the preserve, in a tiny house with one bedroom and a pitiful looking couch that he sleeps on most nights. He dreams of pale skin and amber eyes some nights, but forgets in the morning. It’s easier to forget.

Maybe, in other worlds, their lives are intertwined. Or maybe they are meant to be apart, hoping and waiting for a sign. Maybe, when Stiles settles himself into bed decades after their meeting, his eyes close for the last time and his hand reaches for rough fingertips in the darkness. Maybe.

**Author's Note:**

> don't forget to leave a comment and/or kudos!


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